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Do our eyes deceive us? Trick shots galore in this magical tour of London.
Trick film 1930 4 mins Silent
The film camera is used to great effect here to trick and treat its audience, injecting fun into the otherwise mundane London commute, slum demolition, Thames or London Bridge traffic. Trick films, as they were known, used the medium's technology to enchant, entertain and astonish. This spectacle-dominated, avant-garde piece is pure delight and features some of the capital's key landmarks.
Travelogue 2006 65 mins Location: Land's End
Startling colour photography of 1920s Britain imbues Claude Friese-Greene’s 1920s road trip around Britain.
Documentary 1962 10 mins Silent Location: Lambeth
A colourful round up of the 1962 Lambeth Festival with fun for all, from a carnival parade to a beauty contest judged by radio’s Alan Freeman.
Non-Fiction 1924 13 mins Silent Location: London
The Thames was alive with vessels of all shapes and sizes, testimony to the success of London as a busy Port, handling cargo and passenger ferries from around the world.
Amateur film 1933 8 mins Silent Location: Tower Hamlets
Whistle stop tour of the Thames' iconic locations, followed by crowds, eels and strongmen in the East End.
1931 5 mins Silent Location: Bermondsey
Scenes of thronging street life and market trading along Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey Street and Southwark Park Road.
Non-Fiction 1925 1 mins Silent Location: Southwark Br
Sing up and eat up! Billingsgate market traders sing for your supper
1924 10 mins Location: Belgravia
Part of Wonderful London, the BFI National Archive’s programme of restored London travelogues, filmed in the capital in the 1920s.
Advert 1985 2 mins
Take a fighter jet, a Top Gun pilot with sunglasses and a brand new SAAB 900 and you have a sure-fire vehicle to launch a Hollywood career.
Promotional 2019 10 mins
A wandering warrior dreams of a new form of expression, in this promo for UNKLE’s album The Road: Part II / Lost Highway Pt. II directed by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones.
1935 16 mins
A rare glimpse of 1930s London in colour: the Thames has never looked lovelier.
Advert 1946 1 mins Silent
Life is looking up! The war is over and the “Corona” Man can visit his “Corona” families once more, door-to-door.
Advert 1962 0 mins Location: Rhyl
Cinema advertisement for Marine Lake & Ocean Beach, Rhyl, a popular destination for crowds set on a day's fun on free rides.
Advert 1942 7 mins Silent Location: Blaenau Ffestiniog
Who could deny these advertising claims: "Attractive hair is the ambition of every woman", and "Your family will enjoy Lincoln potatoes"?
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